


Wife

by VanillaMostly



Category: Tintenwelt-Trilogie | Inkheart Trilogy - Cornelia Funke
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-05-14
Updated: 2012-05-14
Packaged: 2017-11-05 08:17:42
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 611
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/404281
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/VanillaMostly/pseuds/VanillaMostly
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Roxane meets an old friend after the death of her second husband. ONESHOT</p>
            </blockquote>





	Wife

**Author's Note:**

> Set pre-Inkspell, before Dustfinger returned into the book. In the POV of my favorite character. :D Beware the angst (maybe?) though.

 

_Arrow wounds, broken bones, a bad cough- I know how to cure all those, and the Prince trusts me.  I was always Dustfinger's wife to him, even when I was married to another man._

 **

 

"Take these herb leaves with some water, twice every day, morning and at dawn.  In two weeks' time the coughs should go away."

 

He stood nearby, watching as Roxane stood to her feet, pushing back stray strands of hair that had slipped from her bun.  She was about to turn when she saw him.

 

"Prince," she said, bowing.

 

He smiled at her.  "No need for such formality."  He nodded at the person she had been treating.  "You did great, again.  He looks loads better already."

 

"It's good to know there are still some I can save," she said.  The smile she returned nearly broke his heart.

 

Why was it that his tongue, always quick as a knife, as they liked to say, now felt so heavy  in his mouth he could barely move it?  "I heard what happened," he managed at last.  "I'm sorry."

 

She shrugged, bending down to pet his bear.  She was probably the only woman he knew who did that almost as naturally as he did so himself.  "It's alright.  Jehan is in the same place as Rosana now.  She'll be glad to see him.  He always loved her like she was his own."  Roxane straightened up, adjusting the pin holding up her hair.  "Anyway, I still have my son.  And Brianna, even if she's grown to the age when she no longer needs me."

 

"No, she needs you.  She's only pretending she doesn't.  Children do that."

 

Roxane looked at him and smiled again, but this time her smile was more grateful than sad.

 

"You're a good man, Prince," she said to him.

 

And you're a good woman, he answered silently.  But what an understatement that was.  For what other woman could have went through what Roxane went through, and still be able to stand like that, with their shoulders back, chin raised, gaze as steady as if it was made of steel?  Sometimes his heart hurt for her so much it ached.  But she wouldn't want his pity.  She wouldn't want anyone's pity.

 

Dustfinger, Dustfinger, he chided his best friend in his head.  You're the world's luckiest bastard to have such a woman's love.  You better come back from wherever you are, whether that be the far edges of the sea or the White Women's realm.  If you lose Roxane once, you'll never find another woman like her again.  Did you know that?

 

"It's time I head back," said Roxane, walking towards her old gray horse grazing by a tree.  "Send for me if you wish for my help.  I know now how to stay hidden in the shadows of the woods, how to tread lightly so only animals will hear, how to lose unwanted followers.  Tell your men I would never put any of you in danger."

 

As if that was his concern at all.  "I know you won't.  Take care."

 

"You take care, too," said Roxane.  She took hold of the reins, but looked back once more before leaving.  "You know, Prince, you should think of finding a wife soon, someone other than your bear to stay by your side."  She regarded him thoughtfully.  "Although it might be hard finding a lady worthy of you."

 

He blinked at her, and again he was at a loss for words.  Then he chuckled softly.  "Yes, it might."

 

Roxane waved and her old horse began its slow trot.  The Black Prince kept his eyes on her until the trees swallowed her into the darkness.

 


End file.
